WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- When the presidential
candidates met last night for their first debate, each spoke about
their commitment to the military -- but avoided talking about the dire
situation now facing our National Guard, which has shipped off more
than 660,000 members to sustain deployment policy in the last seven
years. It is impossible to speak directly to the strained state of our
military without acknowledging the overwhelming burdens on our
citizen-Soldiers posed by current deployment policy.

Veterans for America (VFA) is dismayed that both Senators Barack Obama
and John McCain, the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates,
failed to mention our National Guard this evening when they had ample
opportunities to do just that. They could have mentioned that our
National Guard and Reserves now account for 52 percent of the veterans
returning from Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. They
could have reminded Americans that more than half of the Army Guard
combat units now deploying to Iraq will be on their second tour, with
too little rest between deployments by even the Pentagon's own
standards.

Our candidates for the highest office in the land must acknowledge
these facts if they are to understand the depths of the strain facing
our military. And the fallout from this strain will continue to harm
our Guard down the road: half of the Guard members who serve in Iraq
and Afghanistan suffer combat-related psychological wounds -- a rate 25
percent higher than their active-duty counterparts.

"Sending our National Guard back into battle, without enough rest,
knowingly compounds the wounds of wars," said Bobby Muller, the
president of Veterans for America. "We owe our National Guard and our
Guard families far more than this. And the candidates for president owe
it to them to acknowledge their sacrifices and to offer a solution."

VFA has been on the ground working with National Guard members and
their families in Delaware, Arkansas, Arizona, and Illinois -- and it's
clear current policy can't be sustained without continuing to inflict a
horrible price. Ongoing deployments are breaking our National Guard,
straining our military families, eroding military readiness and leaving
ourselves less protected at home in the face of catastrophe.